Drawn into the schemes of an angry wizard, Carin glimpses the place she
once called home. It lies upon a shore that seems unreachable. To learn where
she belongs and how to get there, the teenage traveler must decipher the words
of an alien book, follow the clues in a bewitched poem, conjure a dragon from a
pool of magic -- and tread carefully around a seductive but volatile, emotionally
scarred sorcerer who can't seem to decide whether to love her or kill
her.
Excerpt from
WATERSPELL Book 1: The Warlock
by Deborah J. Lightfoot
From
Chapter 1.
The Swordsman
It happened too fast to hurt at first. But, oh! the
blood—lots of it, streaming from a gouge that crosscut her knee.
She hunched over the wound, her masses of unkempt hair
tumbling around her face, strands of it trailing in the gore. Blindly Carin
fumbled in her belt-pouch for something to stanch the bleeding. Her fingers met
only flint and steel for fire-making, pebbles for arming her sling, and a length
of twine that was useful for everything from tying back her shaggy auburn mane
to rigging a brush shelter.
Abruptly a hand grasped the shank of her leg, and another
shoved at her shoulder. “Straighten up,” her captor snarled.
Carin threw back her head and flung the hair out of her
eyes. “You!” she gasped. “But—” She hadn’t heard the swordsman’s approaching footsteps—a
seeming impossibility through the crunchy carpet of autumn leaves. Yet here the
man was, crouched beside her and brandishing a dagger. Carin’s hand flew to
shield her throat, but it was her knee he put the blade to.
Stay away from me!
she wanted to shout at him. She couldn’t get the words out—not in a way that
made sense. As sometimes happened when she came unglued, Carin lapsed into a
language of her own. The sounds that passed her lips weren’t gibberish, but no
one ever understood a word she said when she got like this. Carin yelled at the
man, in her own private language, and tried to wrench free of his grasp.
“Stop your noise,” he barked. He held her leg tighter and
waved his dagger in her face. “If you can’t be quiet, I’ll cut out your
tongue.”
Copyright © 2011–2012 by Deborah J.
Lightfoot. All Rights Reserved.
Sample Chapter 1 in full at www.amazon.com/dp/B00686UIFW
The Author:
Castles in the cornfield provided the setting
for Deborah J. Lightfoot’s earliest flights of fancy. On her father’s farm in
West Texas, she grew up reading extraordinary tales of adventure and reenacting
them behind tall ramparts of sun-drenched corn. She left the farm to earn a
bachelor of science degree in journalism and write award-winning books of
history and biography, including The LH7 Ranch (University of North
Texas Press) and Trail Fever (William Morrow, New York). High on her
Bucket List was the desire to try her hand at the genre she most admired. The
result is WATERSPELL, a complex, intricately detailed fantasy that begins with Book
1: The Warlock and Book 2: The Wysard, and concludes (for the
present) with Book 3: The Wisewoman. But a legal pad filled with notes
and tucked away in a desk drawer suggests a possible Book 4 before the saga may
fairly be said to be finished.
And the Giveaway:
Castles in the cornfield provided the setting
for Deborah J. Lightfoot’s earliest flights of fancy. On her father’s farm in
West Texas, she grew up reading extraordinary tales of adventure and reenacting
them behind tall ramparts of sun-drenched corn. She left the farm to earn a
bachelor of science degree in journalism and write award-winning books of
history and biography, including The LH7 Ranch (University of North
Texas Press) and Trail Fever (William Morrow, New York). High on her
Bucket List was the desire to try her hand at the genre she most admired. The
result is WATERSPELL, a complex, intricately detailed fantasy that begins with Book
1: The Warlock and Book 2: The Wysard, and concludes (for the
present) with Book 3: The Wisewoman. But a legal pad filled with notes
and tucked away in a desk drawer suggests a possible Book 4 before the saga may
fairly be said to be finished.
Deborah is a professional member of The
Authors Guild. She and her husband live in the country south of Fort Worth,
Texas. Find her online at www.waterspell.net.
And the Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I really enjoyed the first chapter. I wonder why she was captured. Thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeletekassandralopez32@yahoo.com
heard great reviews about this book! thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteOhhh, this book sounds really really good!! x
ReplyDeleteThis is a relatively new genre for me, but sounds interesting. Thanks for hosting the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteI love clues and puzzles. I am ready to do some deciphering too! Sounds like a great book!
ReplyDeleteOoooh. This one looks exciting! Cover art is lovely.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Melissa, for hosting a stop on my blog tour! I meant to drop you a note before now, but I've been far away, attending the Roswell (NM) Cosmic-Con and Film Fest. Pictures of that event are at my blog, if you'd like to see:
ReplyDeletehttp://djlightfoot.blogspot.com/2012/06/2012-cosmic-con-at-roswell-new-mexico.html
Best wishes,
Deborah